1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to magnetic devices for therapeutic application for mammals, and more particularly to a static field, quadripolar magnetic treatment device with flux return means and a focusing means to increase the intensity, focus and gradient of the field for placement against or in proximity to the mammal's body or surface. The present disclosure further relates to methods of use and construction of such magnetic treatment devices for the use of or treatment of various diseases, complications and disorders such as, but not limited to, a) acute and chronic pain, b) cardiac dysfunction, c) seizure disorders, d) pain and edema sustained in minor burns, e) insect bites and bee stings, f) potentiation of pharmaceuticals and focusing and for concentrating the drug to the active site, g) protection of transplant organs, h) treatment of movement disorders, l) control of edema and pain as well as speed healing following surgical procedures, j) control of pain and sludging of sickled cells in sickle cell disease, k) foot pain and discomfort, I) treatment of pain and other dysfunctions, m) potentiation of epidural anesthesia and epidural analgesia, n) Protection from cell injury and death following cell insults such as contusion, hypoxic stroke and infection, o) control of nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy, motion, and chemotherapy, p) prevention of fertilization of ovum by sperm, q) cumulative trauma disorder in the workplace, r) a magnetic placebo which has no biological activity yet is magnetic and has all characteristics of the authentic device except the alternating poles and a significant field gradient.
2. General Background of the Disclosure Magnetic fields have been applied to the human body for various therapeutic purposes for many centuries. For example, magnetic medical treatment devices for application against selected portions of the human body are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,921,620 and 5,941,902; method and apparatus for suppressing neuron action potential firings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,321; magnetic plasters for improving circulation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,711; magnetic fields for stimulation of bone growth are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,017; and magnetic stimulation of nerve cells has been accomplished with devices such as the Cadwell Magneto-Electric Stimulator (MES-10) manufactured by Cadwell Laboratories, Inc. of Kennewick, Wash.
Various disease states, tissue and organ malfunction may be the result of loss of membrane stability and normal permeability. These membranes may be cellular or intracellular, but in any case represent malfunction of excitable tissue. This malfunction of excitable tissue may be due to alteration of ion channel function. These various disease and states of malfunction may also be related to alteration of receptor sites or agonist sites of enzymes and/or other such dynamic systems within living organisms and more particularly the human animal. A great variety of symptoms and malfunctions may occur, such as, but not limited to, the above listed disease and/or disorder states. Many types of ailments, including chronic pain, poor localized blood flow, cerebral edema and certain seizures and injuries cannot be successfully treated with conventional drug, physical therapy or surgical therapies. Because such ailments are often untreatable with conventional therapies, there is a need for alternative therapies that relieve these previously untreatable or poorly treatable conditions.
Signals in the mammalian bodies are transferred by the movement of charge. For pain, the charge is usually carried on ions such as sodium, potassium and calcium ions that move through the fluids in cells from membrane to membrane where they interact with position in bimolecular structures referred to as receptors. A similar mechanism is used for the transmission of many other types of information wherein complex biomolecules act as the information carrier rather than simple ions. The molecules have polar centers of positive or negative charge or both (dipoles).
This charge movement can be altered, even stopped by the applications of magnetic fields. A moving electric charge such as an ion or a charged or partially charge molecule (one that has a dipole moment) is acted upon by a force when it moves through a magnetic field. At any point in time or space the magnitude of that force is proportional to the magnetic field. The force causes the charged particle to change direction. As it moves to the next point in space the field at that point also acts on it causing it to continue to change direction.
The gradient of the magnetic field is measured by the change in its magnitude over a given space. A charged particle moving through the space of a magnetic field with a steep gradient will be acted upon to change direction more quickly than a particle moving through the same average field but with a lesser gradient. The steep gradient is related to the fact that the force is changing more rapidly in the same space even though the average field over a larger distance may be the same.
The deflection of the charge is related to the magnitude, direction and gradient of the magnetic field. Magnetic fields are vector fields that have both magnitude and direction. At any point on space the field that acts on a charge is the summation of all the fields from all the magnets that are strong enough to effectively interact with that change. There is only one resultant vector at that point in space. The field is the summation of all fields at that point and the gradient is also the summation of the effects of all fields.
For example, an electron is a simple negatively charged particle. Electrons can be ejected from filaments in cathode ray tubes and caused to move toward the screen based on a positive potential at that location. They are routinely directed and focused by the use of magnetic fields from magnets (in this case an electromagnet) set up around the path of the electron. The magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the electron to deflect it. The magnetic field is applied over a portion of the space through which the electron is moving and the change in that magnetic field over that space (the gradient) determines the path of the deflection.
In the case of treating physical ailments, the particle is an ion, a biomolecule or a drug. A magnetic filed can deflect the ions that cause “pain communication,” and the steeper the gradient the better the deflection.